


Grand-Guardian

by BookishBrigitta



Series: Li Mei, Bringer of Honor [1]
Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Kid Fic, Mischief, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22625023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookishBrigitta/pseuds/BookishBrigitta
Summary: A series of (non-chronological) one-shots about Mushu's involvement in the life of Mulan's daughter.
Relationships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang
Series: Li Mei, Bringer of Honor [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604017
Comments: 7
Kudos: 61





	Grand-Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Also: I have more stories about Mei in the works, so keep an eye out!

As much as she loved her daughter, Mulan was glad to have the opportunity to keep working after Mei was born. With a bit of ingenuity and scheduling, she had returned to her post as head instructor of mathematics and strategy. Usually, Mulan could watch Mei and teach at the same time, but today was a practical lesson. Mushu offered to watch the baby while the recruits applied their trigonometry skills to the canons, and since Mei usually napped then anyway, Mulan agreed. Surely the great Fa family guardian could watch a sleeping baby for a couple hours.

It didn't take long to realize she had been sorely mistaken. An hour into the lesson, she saw a flash of red in her peripheral vision, followed by something landing on her shoulder.

“Um, hi?” Mushu said sheepishly.

“Mushu! Is everything alright?” Mulan asked, holding her hand out so Mushu could be at eye-level.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s all fine, nothing to worry about really,” he babbled, pacing around her palm.

 _“Mushu…”_ she said warningly. “What happened? Where’s Mei?”

“See, that’s just the thing…”

“Mushu, what did you do?”

He grimaced and rubbed his neck nervously. 

“Tell me.”

He mumbled something too quiet for her to hear.

“That wasn’t an ask, Mushu! Tell me what happened!”

“Alright, alright.” He took a deep breath. “I lost her, okay?”

“No! Not okay! You _lost_ my _baby_ in an _army camp!_ ” she yelled, gripping the dragon around his waist so he couldn’t scurry away.

“I--”

“You had one job! She was asleep! How did this happen?”

Mushu tapped his foreclaws together. “Well, at first I was just watching her sleep ‘cause she’s so cute--you know, you and General Pretty Boy did a real nice job on this one--and she just looked so peaceful and all, and I ain’t been getting much sleep since she got here--”

Mulan raised an eyebrow. “ _You_ haven’t been getting much sleep?”

He scrunched further into her hand. “Anywhoooo, it was all so relaxing, and I started doing those deep breaths, and then-I-woke-up-and-she-was-gone.”

Mushu covered his eyes and waited for retribution. But Mulan was eerily silent. He felt her turn around.

“Soldiers,” she shouted over the din, “There's something urgent I need to take care of. Good work today. Class dismissed.”

Then she turned back around, pressing a hand to her face and sucking in a shuddering breath. She pried Mushu’s hands from his eyes and glared.

“If anything happens to her,” she said threateningly, “I will make sure you lose your pedestal. For good this time.”

* * *

“Mei? Mei? Where are you?”

Of all the things Mulan had experienced, this was by far the most frightening. Nothing--not setting off avalanches, not going over cliffs, not battling Huns with just a fan--could compare to the sheer terror of worrying about one’s child. 

_Ancestors, please help me find her. Please let her be okay._

She and Mushu split up, systematically searching every building, tent, and tree. Her hands shook as she rifled through crates of supplies, and her back ached from bending low to the ground to look for places a baby could roll. With every bush she looked under, every tent she ransacked, she fell farther into the grip of panic. Horrible thoughts flashed through her mind unbidden.

_What if she’d fallen down the well? No, that was stupid, she was too small to reach the well. What if she’d gotten into the stables and been kicked by a horse? What if she’d rolled into a campfire? What if, what if, what if…?_

Her heart pounded like it had when she outran the fireworks on the palace roof. How much longer until it gave out entirely? How had she not killed her grandmother when she ran away from home?

Part of her very much wanted to curl up and cry, but another part, the rational part, knew that her best chance was to keep looking. 

One more tent, then three, then five. She’d reached the administrative tents now. She went through them a woman possessed, lifting up cushions and peeking under tables. 

“Mulan!” she heard the guardian yell from the next row of tents. “Over here!”

She was there in an instant.

“Where?” she asked breathlessly.

But before Mushu could answer, she heard a thump from under the table. She bent down. Mei blinked up at her, smacking her little hand to the ground and inching forward. 

Mulan sank to her knees and pulled the little girl close to her chest. “Oh, thank the heavens!”

She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. It was like the adrenaline had been her grappling hook, but now the rope was cut, and she was falling down, down, down into exhaustion. Her legs were noodles; she could do nothing but sit here, holding the baby and pressing kisses to the top of her head. She stayed like this for a few minutes, trying to process the panicked blur of the last half hour. Then…

“Hang on,” she said, holding Mei so she could see her face. “Under the table just then...you were crawling!”

Mei squealed happily at her mother’s voice.

“You’re such a big girl now, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”

“They grow up so fast, don’t they?” Mushu said as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Sunrise, sunset, and all that.”

Mulan just glared at him. 

“All’s well that ends well, right?” he said weakly.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

She stood up and settled Mei on her hip. “Alright, Mei,” she sighed, “Time to go home.

Mushu ran after them. “Hey, wait up! Come on! I found her, that’s got to count for something!”

* * *

Shang came home to find his wife sitting at the dining table, back against the wall, a cold cup of tea in front of her. Her eyes were closed, but Shang could tell she wasn't asleep by the way she kept adjusting her grip on the baby in her lap.

“Rough day?”

Mulan rubbed her eyes, then opened them. “Mm-hmm. But--oh!” She sat up straighter. “There is something…just, um, stay there!” 

She turned her attention to the baby. “Come on, Mei! Let’s show Baba what you learned today.” 

She set Mei on the floor. Mei looked back at her mother, confused. 

“Go on.” She tickled Mei’s foot.

And she was off! Propelling herself across the floor and giggling like a madwoman at her newfound mobility. Shang looked on, amazed and transfixed, until a tiny hand collided with his shoe. He bent down and scooped her into his arms.

“Well, it looks like you’ve had quite a busy day, hmm?” he said as he gently extricated his cape from the baby's mouth, despite her protests.

Mulan groaned. “You don’t know the half of it.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, how did I do? I haven't written Mushu before, and I hope I was able to get his essence.


End file.
